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In summary, by sampling on use-days and amount used, we find that most of the consumption and, hence, most of the associated intoxication and flow of money into the black markets, comes from people who use frequently. Examining the number of users can be enlightening but does not fully capture the dynamics of cannabis usage. In order to understand market-related quantities like demand, and to better assess implications for crime, health, and productivity, researchers should analyze cannabis usage indicators like use-days and quantity consumed.

Alcohol is legal and regulated. Its use is our nation’s No. 3 cause of preventable death, behind diet related illness. Alcohol use costs our country at least $185 billion annually — which is also roughly 10 times the amount of money our state and federal governments collect from today’s taxes on the substance (HHS)
Marijuana: According to the 2010 National Study on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) • Marijuana accounted for 4.5 million of the estimated 7.1 million Americans dependent on or abusing illicit drugs • In 2009, approximately 18 percent of people aged 12 and older entering drug abuse treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse • 61 percent of persons under 15 reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse

Several Capital High School students agreed with Graham’s assessment, " that teens are taking advantage of it being easier to shoplift liquor" than beer or wine.

“You’re not an automatic suspect when you walk in a grocery store,” said one student interviewed Tuesday in the school parking lot.

“We’re only catching a small percent of what’s happening,” Graham said. “We are not getting all of the alcohol-related incidents referred for criminal charges.”

School officials and police have said they are concerned that the store’s liquor is sold in the same aisle as soft drinks and energy drinks where students congregate.

Cannabis has enormous affinity for milk and produces a milk/plasma ratio of 8, although the levels in milk are generally considered subclinical. THC crosses the placenta readily, and there is increasing evidence that it may increase rates of growth retardation and adverse neurodevelopment following prenatal exposure.
 
One study indicated an increased incidence of reduced head circumference in young adolescents (9-12 years of age) who were exposed in utero to heavy marijuana use.  Prenatal exposure resulted in a higher rate of low birth weight infants and childhood leukemia. Recent studies have suggested a reduction in long and short-term memory retrieval and retention in children exposed to prenatal cannabis. These children were also weak in planning, integration, and judgment skills.
 
While the effect of cannabis on infants from breastfeeding mothers is limited, cannabis use in breastfeeding mothers should be strongly discouraged. Thus, in pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, this drug should no longer be viewed as safe.

This article estimates the energy consumption for this practice in the United States at 1% of national electricity use, or $6 billion each year

As expected, prescription cannabinoids are effective antiemetics and appetite stimulants, and some studies report their effectiveness as adjunct therapy in chronic pain syndromes, spasticity, and glaucoma. Similar results are reported by the few studies of smoked cannabis plant for these same indications. As noted earlier, safe and effective alternative treatments for all these syndromes are available.  Studies assessing psychological aspects of smoked cannabis and prescription cannabinoids uniformly report undesired effects: acute psychosis, poorer prognosis of chronic psychosis, or cognitive dulling in medical patients. 

Records for 24,874 women: The results of this study show that the use of cannabis in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes. Prevention programs that address cannabis use during pregnancy are needed.
 Multivariate analysis, controlling for potential confounders, including tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of other illicit drugs, showed that cannabis use in pregnancy was associated with low birth weight, preterm labor, small for gestational age, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Even after controlling for the confounding effect of mental illness symptoms preceding marijuana use, these studies showed an increased risk of developing schizophrenia or mood disorders (depression, anxiety) in adulthood if individuals regularly smoked marijuana during adolescence. The risk was particularly heightened if there was any family history of mental illness (i.e., “genetics provided the loaded gun and marijuana pulled the trigger”). Also, mental illness, among those at risk, tended to show up earlier with marijuana use.
 
 

In addition to 9% of respondents who reported stealing alcohol from commercial outlets themselves, a total of 26% respondents reported occasions when their close friends stole alcohol. Our findings unveiled that teens had a body of knowledge that some drew upon for stealing alcohol. Youths revealed detailed knowledge about store layout, theft protection devices and store policies. In particular, respondents disclosed knowledge about which aisles have blind spots, how to remove security tops on bottles, and no-chase policies.
 
As one 17 year old female described: “in a liquor store the cashier’s gonna be watching you and in a big supermarket it’s more open. [...] it’s just some open place and there’s no one around, you can just steal it more easily than in a small business.”
 
Youths also reported knowing the layout of large commercial stores, in particular the locations of security cameras and blind sports. Youths used blind spots to slip a bottle of alcohol into a pocket or backpack unnoticed. A 17 year old boy discussed how he and his friend strategized: “We had a whole system. As it turns out, the only aisle in every store that doesn’t have security cameras is the pet food aisle. So my friend looks really old, and I’d have the backpack. He’d go and he’d grab the handle [1.75 liter liquor bottle], walk into the pet food aisle, put it into my backpack and we’d walk out.”

The resulting price tag is about $5 billion in annual electricity costs, said Mills, who conducted and published the research independently from the Berkeley lab. The resulting contribution to greenhouse gas emissions equals about 3 million cars on the road, he said.

The truth is that both tobacco and marijuana have damaging effects. Those who smoke both cigarettes and marijuana suffer the compound consequences of two different drugs destroying their health simultaneously.

Conclusions and Relevance  Although individual-level risk remains moderate to low and results from this study should be confirmed in future adequately powered prospective studies, the high prevalence of adolescents consuming cannabis generates a large number of young people who could develop depression and suicidality attributable to cannabis. This is an important public health problem and concern, which should be properly addressed by health care policy.

Cannabis and alcohol acutely impair several driving-related skills in a dose-related fashion, but the effects of cannabis vary more between individuals than they do with alcohol because of tolerance, differences in smoking technique, and different absorptions of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana.